During the Ardennes offensive, Lieutenant Lyle Bouck’s Intelligence and Reconnaissance Platoon of the 99th Infantry Division was stationed in Lanzerath. On 16 December, the 18 men of the platoon and four artillery observers ambushed the inexperienced 9th Battalion, 3. Fallschirmjägerdivision (3rd Parachute Division) from fortified positions.

It wasn’t until dusk that the Germans finally captured the American platoon. While nearly all of the Americans were wounded, remarkably only one was killed. For their effort Bouck’s platoon had killed 16 and wounded 63 Germans (13 more were missing), but more importantly, they had halted the Fallschirmjäger and the entire 1. SS-Panzerdivision for over 20 hours.